CO-FOUNDERS
Pearlyn Lee (aka Pearl, the other co-founder) is a Singaporean based in Paris, and the curator behind the events, catering and music playlists at The Hood. Previously in banking & commodities, she decided to move to Paris and opened The Hood Paris in 2016 with the goal of bringing people together through great coffees, music under-represented flavours from South / Southeast Asia.
Khanh-Ly Huynh (aka Ly, one of our co-founders), the winner of Masterchef France in 2015 and creative mastermind behind the day and evening menu at The Hood Paris. Born in France from Vietnamese parents, Khanh-Ly never formally studied cooking before Masterchef France, but later obtained a culinary degree from the Institute Paul Bocuse. She has worked as a private chef for foreign ambassadors, ran pop-ups and served as food consultant in Paris, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam and Switzerland.
THE FLAVORS AND INGREDIENTS
Surprising flavours, in-house spice mixes. Our menu is mostly South-east Asian inspired, straight-forward, seasonal, and with ingredients mostly sourced from sustainable farms in France and Italy. Straight up Southeast Asian cooking with French produce, and iconic South-East Asian flavours (including some of our favourites: Pandan, Sriracha, Gula Melaka, Kaya, Ginger/garlic condiments, and Hainanese Chicken). All our condiments are made in-house with love and care.
INSPIRATION
A reflection of our two female, Asian co-founders’ roots in South-east Asia, and their encounters and travels.
“BISTRO DE QUARTIER” THE NEIGHBOURHOOD, RUE JEAN PIERRE TIMBAUD, PARIS 11
The menu was also created to reflect the neighbourhood that was traditionally known to be a bar area. We try to answer this missing link with all day Southeast Asian breakfasts, brunch, specialty coffee, and carefully selected craft beers. We are your liaison through the day, your providers of delicious food, great vibes and good drinks.
PANDAN
A naturally green flavouring derived from Pandan leaves, used in many Southeast Asian desserts. We extract it from Pandan leaves in-house. It’s naturally sweet, with a slight vanilla flavour, and we’re just a little bit obsessed with it. It’s in our house-made Kaya Jam (see below), and our Pandan chiffon cake. We also use it to cook rice!
COOL BEANS
All our coffee beans are sourced from Hexagone Cafe in Paris, and also Drop Coffee in Stockholm!
KAYA TOASTS
Another Singapore breakfast favourite: Kaya fait maison, served with 2 oeufs parfaits, salt and pepper, and dark soy sauce. Throw in the salted French butter, et voila, you have one of the simplest and best Singapore-style breakfasts we can have here in Paris.
THE SRIRACHA & THE SAMBAL
Our homemade Sriracha sauce deserves its own line – 100% vegan, 100% fait maison (homemade) - we currently aim to have our sriracha on the shelves by 2024. We also make our own Sambals, and Ginger Condiment. We started bottling them in 2020 during the 1st confinement, and they are now available for sale and delivery all across Paris.
RICE RICE RICE, CHICKEN RICE.
After almost 900 plates sold out in 7 pop-ups since 2016, we decided to put this on our menu! This is Singapore’s national dish, and we decided to interpret it The Hood’s way, with our own flavours and condiments, using free-range farm chickens from France sourced by our neighbours, Terroirs d’avenir. All day Asian breakfast lovers can try the Congee (or “Chao” or “Zhou” as we call them in Vietnamese or Chinese). Throw in a tea egg or oeuf parfait, and ask for extra Char Siu. One of our co-founders eats a congee literally every day...
DAIKON KIM CHI
We use to make an amazing pickled daikon Korean-style with the perfect crunch, a wonderful match with a plate of chicken rice or congee. Tell us if we should bring it back!
BANH MI
Our star daytime dish (#thebanhmiisyours). Unable to track down a really standout version of Vietnam’s most famous sandwich in Paris, we decided to make our own. We have meat and vegetarian-friendly versions as featured in The Independent. The mayonnaise is home-made with tofu, and the fillings changes seasonally. In July 2021, we decided to give our Banh Mi it’s own stand, and Nonette Banh Mi & Donuts was created, right across the street.
VEGAN AND GLUTEN FREE OPTIONS
To accommodate the dietary needs of our community, we have introduced vegan and gluten free all day Asian breakfast on our menu (Vegan Nasi Lemak). Check out our menu here.
POP-UPS
We love global cuisines, and we’re firm believers that brunch food should be about more than avocado toast and pancakes (as much as we adore both those things). We’ve hosted over 25 pop-ups to date, with food from Tel Aviv, Korea, Texas, Singapore, Vietnam, the West Indies… we could go on. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for news about the next one.
In 2023, we launched a Singapore series #CHOPECHOPE SG sharing Singapore food and heritage stories from Singapore chefs, thanks to Singapore Global Network, and Airbnb!
BEERS & NATURAL WINES
NATURAL CIDERs!
What’s Asian food without a light lager and Asian beers? We also carry a select list of natural whites, reds and pet nat that go perfectly with our menu. Ask The Hood team for a recommendation!